Windows to the Soul
by Naomi Shihoin
Summary: We are Shinji Hirako, Neliel Tu Odelschwanck and Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. We came to Junrinan because of a Quincy. We were told to become Shinigami. We will not go down without a fight.
1. Too Slow

**A/N**: I just finished the first part of this yesterday and the set-up chapter of Resurrección the day before. Now, Windows to the Soul is the direct prequel to Through Our Eyes and is done in drabble-style, so telling Shinji, Neliel and Grimmjow's stories is going to take a while. How Windows to the Soul ends is already quite concrete in my head. Credit also goes to QueenPersephoneofHades for the title. Anyway, here it is! Please enjoy!

**Warning**: There will be language in this story, mainly from Shinji.

_**Windows to the Soul**_

1. Too Slow

"_I'm afraid it's too late to stop; with the bait released, the time to act is now."_

One Hollow crawled out of an opening in the sky and, before it even got all the way out, the Quincy had shot an arrow at it, disintegrating it on contact.

"That's one for me, Soul Reaper," the Quincy looking confident. "You realize that before long, this town will be flooded by Hollows. I'd worry about protecting as many people as you can, right now."

As the Shinigami stood there, looking pissed, the Quincy readied his bow for the next Hollow. He turned his head for a moment. "Since you're just standing there, I'll give you a hint. Hollows are attracted to those with high spiritual pressure."

...

Meanwhile, a long-haired blonde boy was attempting to run from a monstrous tiger-like creature. The boy had just been hit by a car and his physical body had died. This meant he was now a Plus.

Quite frankly, he hated it. He was scared; scared that he'd died and scared of this beast that was chasing him.

Was there nowhere safe in this town?

"My oh my, seems like the Hollows are increasing in this town," a voice spoke up as the owner of the voice materialized behind the boy.

The boy skidded to a halt and half turned to look at the newcomer.

Sensing the boy's reaction, the man raised his hat with one hand, his other on one of his swords. "Kyōraku-taichou of the Gotei 13," he smiled.

"H-Hirako Shinji," the boy stammered, unsure of what to make of his rescuer.

The man disappeared blindingly fast, appeared to use his sword and materialized by Shinji's side again.

He placed a hand on Shinji's shoulder and raised the hilt of his tachi. "There is a place I can send you which will prevent you from becoming a monster like that, given your Chain of Fate is short." He motioned to the chain attached to Shinji's chest. "Would you like to go?"

The last remnants of the beast vanished into the air. Shinji nodded. "Please," he asked.

The man got down on a knee and the Kanji character of "burial" appeared on the bottom of the hilt. Shinji felt the hilt lightly bump his forehead.

The last words he heard the man utter were: "Have to talk with my 5th Seat about getting annoyed by a Quincy. My oh my..."

Then Shinji felt as if he was falling...


	2. Death

2. Death

"_Look to the future and put aside what is now."_

It never used to be like this; this town never had so many of these monstrous things.

_What were they even?_ The light blue-haired boy barely had time to think that as he ran from one such bestial creature.

It had the appearance of a wolf with a bony white mask.

Several humans came to his rescue; they weren't really, but the boy didn't know that.

The ones in black garb fought the giant animal, wounding it with slices of their swords.

There was one, a woman, wearing a white outfit on top of her black clothes who was explaining to her subordinates to slice the mask.

They shifted positions in order to better attack the brute but, before any of them could move a step, the Hollow leaped into action.

It landed behind the Soul Reapers, as they called themselves, a man hanging limply in its jaws.

"Fukutaichou! Fukutaichou!" They cried. "The fukutaichou is dead!"

"Taichou, what are your orders?!" Another pleaded.

"The 3rd Seat and I will fight; everyone else stand back," the woman spoke with a calm, patient tone.

She reached up with her right hand and poked a finger through one of the holes in the handle of her sword, pulling it out.

As if sensing her intentions, the wolf lunged again, crushing the body of another man, the 3rd Seat, in his maw before spitting him out as if he were nothing but bad meat. Then, before anyone could do anything, the Hollow ran off.

There was still Shinigami blood on its lips.

Lowering her head, the taichou glanced at the dead bodies of her subordinates. A seldom seen tear slid from her wet eyes.

She had failed her subordinates, failed the 7th Division and failed the sou-taichou. He might even demote her, or worse!

But she couldn't think about that right now; she gave her 4th Seat some instructions, before turning to the boy whom the wolf Hollow had been targeting from the beginning.

"Hey, kid," she began gently. "What's your name?"

"Grimmjow," the boy answered. "Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez."

"Harribel-taichou of the 7th Division," she gave her own name, rank and Division number. "I'll remember yours."

She flipped the sword around so that the hilt showed and softly tapped Grimmjow on the head.

His body was overcome with a light feeling and he started sinking...


	3. Nightmare

**Nishikil**: I'm sorry that Grimmjow's tale didn't seem particularly detailed in terms of descriptions and the format was kinda spaced out, but I was struggling with a bad headache that day, so I do apologize. You would be right in saying that canon's Harribel wouldn't care about rank, but you are also right when you acknowledge that this is an AU.

**QueenPersephoneofHades**: Oh yes, the fateful first meeting is going to happen, but not just yet. Soon, though. Very soon. XD. I will keep it going; thanks for the encouragement.

To both of you, here's the latest chapter.

3. Nightmare

"_In us all is weakness_."

The scream of terror echoed in his ears. He resolved himself to save her.

A sword sliced through the air, arcing down towards a mask. A Hollow's mask. The Hollow resembled a Great White shark; the evil spirit able to power through the air as if it was the sea. The monster dissipated before the man's blue-grey eyes. He watched to make sure it had properly disappeared before shunpoing to the end of the street block where a young girl was bent over, hands on knees, greenish-blue hair in her eyes.

She was breathing heavily, to which he deduced she had been running for her life from the beast, and her fair face was streaked with tears. He sheathed his blade and held out a gloved hand to her. "Are you unhurt?" He asked.

The girl panted for a few more seconds before staring up at her rescuer, gratefully taking his hand and pulling herself upright. "I-I'm fine. What was that thing?"

He explained that the monster was what Shinigami, pointing to himself, called Hollows and Hollows were attracted to individuals with high spiritual energy.

"I have high spiritual energy?"

She received a nod as her answer. The girl exhaled heavily in shock. "So who are you?" She eventually asked.

"Starrk Coyote, taichou of the Gotei 13," the man with brown hair answered. "You are...?"

"I'm Odelschwanck Neliel," the girl answered, as she raised one hand to wipe away the tears. "Is there somewhere safe I can go? I don't want to live this nightmare of being chased all the time."

Starrk smiled faintly and brought out his sword again, turning it so the hilt faced Neliel's forehead, the kanji character glowing. "There is a place called Soul Society; that will be the safest area for you."

The hilt lightly touched her forehead and she began falling, no longer connected to the real world in any way.


	4. Gathering part 1

Hi everyone! Here's a triple update, enjoy!

4. Gathering part 1

"_Gathering companions is a basic need_."

Even loners are bound to have friends at some point in their lives. Grimmjow was no different and it was through tight circumstances that he met his first.

It was a bad day. Grimmjow had woken up in an abandoned house that was his current home in a sullen mood. He had no idea why. All he knew was that he woke up wondering if life could be any better. Surely all the districts were like this.

Then, the foul streak continued. First, he tried to steal some rice balls from a vendor. He was quiet, he was sure of it, yet the man managed to catch him red-handed. Enraged, the man gave chase, and Grimmjow would normally have no problems running away, but this time, he tripped and was nearly caught, forcing him to abandon his loot.

Just a stroke of bad luck, right? He tried again a while later, this time managing to escape by running into an alley. He waited there for a few minutes, eager to return to his makeshift home to enjoy his meal. Unfortunately, when he emerged, he found three youths — all boys and all taller and meaner looking than him, blocking the exit.

The one in the middle, probably the leader, smirked at Grimmjow. "Thanks for getting us our food. Hand it over."

Grimmjow scowled. Normally, he would've given in to avoid a confrontation, but this time, he was in a bad mood, so he wasn't inclined to surrender without a fight.

Suddenly, one of the youths pitched forward and fell flat on his face. Surprised, all heads turned to look, and Grimmjow saw a greenish blue-haired girl who looked no older than him standing on the fallen youth's back. Stunned, the other two bullies gaped at her and that was all the distraction Grimmjow needed.

Freeing his hands, he swept the leader's feet from beneath him. He winced at the impact, but it was enough to send the bully to the ground.

Seeing his leader down, the remaining bully charged at Grimmjow. He threw a fist and Grimmjow raised his hand to block it. Unfortunately for him, his physical body was only that of an eleven-year-old and the impact was harder than he expected.

Grimmjow yelped in pain. The bully threw his other fist at Grimmjow, who still had the presence of mind to duck aside. At the same time, the girl pounced onto the bully's back, and her added force plus the bully's momentum sent him pitching forward as well.

Shocked that they'd won, Grimmjow didn't notice the leader recovering, until the girl grabbed his arm. "Don't just stand there; let's go!" Grimmjow didn't protest and they high-tailed it out of there.


	5. Gathering part 2

5. Gathering part 2

"_The future will be bright_."

Shinji looked back at them as he led the escape. He wasn't as winded as the others, but he hoped the man would tire out soon or just give up. He could only run full sprint for that long.

Behind them, the man shouted. "I'm going to count to ten. If you brats surrender my water before that, I might decide to spare your lives!"

"Should we give it back to him?" one of the other kids shouted to Shinji.

"Hell no, dickheads! We need this more than he does. He's bluffing anyway! Just keep running! Hurry, he's gaining on us!"

The man shouted again. "Alright, that's it! Now I'm going to kill all of you. I don't care if you give me back my water; I'll still kill you!"

"Is that a good enough answer?" Shinji shouted to his friends.

They were so busy concentrating on running away that they failed to notice a blue-haired kid as they ran past him. They also didn't see him swinging out low just as the man was about to run past him, hitting him just below his shin, sending him toppling to the ground. "Ahh! That hurt!" the boy cried to no one in particular.

That got the kids' attention. They stopped and turned round to stare in surprise at the blue-haired kid. "Shinji-chan, who is that? Do you know him?" one of them asked. Shinji just stared blankly at the boy and shook his head.

"Alright, who tripped me?" the man said as he started to get up.

Suddenly, a greenish blue-haired girl materialized above the man and stomped on his head. The man gave a "oof!" but she didn't stop there and proceeded to trample repeatedly on his head.

After a few moments, the kid stopped, folded her arms and looked at the blue-haired boy. "Well, your fault for hitting so hard," she said with a smirk. Then, the girl hopped off the unconscious man and joined the boy and the duo ran past the group.

"Wha… Hey! Where're you going, di-?" Shinji called as he regained the use of his voice.

"We're getting the hell out of here, or do you want the man to wake up and find you still standing there stupidly?"

"Ah… sure," Shinji hastily replied and they scrambled after the two of them.

...

"My name is Hirako Shinji, dickheads," Shinji said to the boy and girl when they had taken cover in an alley.


	6. Where Ties Form

6. Where Ties Form

"_We're family now_."

"Jaegerjaquez Grimmjow and this is Odelschwanck Neliel Tu," Grimmjow replied.

"Thanks for helping us back there. You guys were impressive... for dickheads!" Shinji said.

"Yeah well," Grimmjow shrugged. "We make it a point to help other kids in need whenever we see any," he said.

"That man was ready to kill and we couldn't let that happen," Neliel continued.

"That's strange. If you've been helping other kids, why haven't I seen you before?"

"Maybe we just didn't bump into each other. We've only been doing this for a few days," Grimmjow offered.

"Then how did you guys meet?" Shinji asked.

"Oh, I was fighting off some bullies that were harassing me and Neliel came to my aid. We were both loners with no family, so we decided to stick together. Besides, both our ideologies at surviving were similar," Grimmjow said.

"Wait, you guys fight other older kids?" Shinji asked.

"Someone has to teach them a lesson for stealing and beating up other kids that are younger than them. It's despicable," Neliel said.

Shinji's friends seemed awestruck to hear her say that, but only Shinji seemed to notice it.


	7. Adopted

7. Adopted

"_Our families are becoming bigger_."

Not one to forgo formalities, they bowed as the head teacher approached them. "Gengoro-sensei," they said.

Ounabara nodded and, to their surprise, addressed Neliel and Grimmjow. "I need the two of you to follow me," he responded.

"What? Why?" They asked in shock.

"I'm not permitted to divulge it to public ears, even if they are your friends," Ounabara answered. He shot Shinji and the others a slight apologetic look before turning back to Neliel and Grimmjow. "I'm doing this outside of stated Academy time, if you must know. You may speak to them later if you wish but, for now, please follow me to the Academy entrance."

They looked like they had half a mind to protest, but Hisagi waved them on. "Don't worry about us, you two. We'll wait for you here," he commented, smiling.

"Yeah, we will. But you better hurry up or I might just eat Hisa- ow! What was that for, dickhead?!" Shinji smirked through the pain of Hisagi's fist meeting his head.

"Well, I guess we'll be going then," Neliel said hesitantly before they hurried after their future head teacher.

...

"I'm sorry, Gengoro-sensei, but since we're not being overheard, could you tell us why you need us?"

"All I can tell you both is that you have visitors. They have told me their purpose, of course, but I am not allowed to divulge it to either of you. You'll know soon enough anyway. We're here," Ounabara remarked as they stopped outside a class.

Neliel frowned. Visitors? Who in the world would be looking for them? They knew no one other than Hisagi, Shinji and the rest of the gang.

"Please wait outside for a moment," Ounabara spoke before entering, sliding the door closed before Grimmjow could see who was inside. A few seconds later, the door slid open again and Ounabara walked out. He gestured inside. "Please enter. I'm not permitted inside so I shall take my leave."

Frowning at the teacher's actions, the pair entered, but faltered when they saw their visitors.

"You are Neliel, I take it?" A firm, mature voice inquired.

A blonde-haired woman chose to rush over and hug Grimmjow as opposed to speak at once, but either way had the desired effect. "I'm so proud to see you."

...

A while later, Shinji reached his destination. Not knowing what exactly he was walking into, he slid open the door. "Hey you two dickheads! Are you do-" He stopped in his tracks when he spotted the duo.

They weren't alone. There were four adults in the room with them, two fussing over each child. The taller male of the two, the one with purple hair, had a taichou's haori on. But something seemed off about him; at least, that was what Shinji was able to pick up. It was as if his reiatsu wasn't fully Soul Reaper. The shorter man exuded the air and power of a noble, just as the taichou did, but the older blonde's nobility seemed to be less important as the one who didn't seem pure Shinigami.

The purple-haired man was standing directly in front of Neliel, while the older blonde stood to Grimmjow's side. Both children were looking at Shinji in surprise. It was the one in front of Neliel that caught Shinji's attention when he felt the impressive aura he was giving off. But that wasn't all, as his eyes fell on the other's own irises which seemed to be flickering between amber and that of a... No. It can't be... Shinji paled as he realized a horrible truth.

_Those eyes. He's a taichou… and they're nobles? What're nobles looking for Neliel and Grimmjow for?_ Shinji thought in dread.

"We'll finish our conversation later," the purple-haired man suddenly spoke, jolting Shinji back to his senses. Without speaking, the two noble families began walking off.

"We will take our leave now. Welcome to our families: the Shihōin and Izuru," the older and younger noble spoke in unison as they walked past Neliel and Grimmjow.

As the taichou approached Shinji, his amber eyes caught the blonde child's.

A slight pressure coming from the taichou seemed to push against him. Caught off guard, Shinji stared back blankly, but the pressure didn't intensify. He didn't know what to make of it.


	8. Entrance Exam

**A/N**: This is the end, everyone. It was a short fic. I hope everyone enjoys this.

Please check out Splinters: Upheaval; it needs a bit of love right now. It's getting started, but it will rock the house, I believe.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed this brief fic.

**darkmachines**: Sorry about not answering you in the last drabble, my friend. Drabbles are meant to be short.

8. Entrance Exam

"_Pass or fail? Only time will tell, but we're here now. Let's make it count_."

Hours after completing the exam, they found themselves seated in an even larger classroom than the first. Everyone here had been accepted into the Shin'ō Reijutsu Academy, but still didn't know what class they would be in. That would be done first thing the next day.

There was a smattering of conversation throughout the room. Many were quietly awaiting further instructions, while others were blabbing non-stop, some loudly while others were quieter. Shinji, seated on one side of Grimmjow, was one of them.

"Section 1 is over and we all made it through just fine, dickheads! I was worried that they would ask us to do something impressive or worse. I really hope what I did was enough; I was trying to read the examiners' expressions but I can't be sure… Now, to see what class we're in. I can't wait for tomorrow. I hope…"

As Shinji continued spewing words, Grimmjow let out a sigh and glanced at Neliel. She was silent and staring ahead, her head supported by a hand, and the other was lying flat on the desk in front of them, obviously not listening to a single thing Shinji was saying. She had a solemn expression on her face.

According to her, her test didn't go as well as she'd hoped. Out of nerves, she performed much worse than Grimmjow knew she was capable of, and from the sounds of it, it sounded like she did worse than Shinji. And, of course, that idiot just wouldn't shut up about how his test went.

Seeing the look on her face, Grimmjow didn't have the heart to tell her how his exam went.

To say the examiners were surprised was an understatement. They were wide-eyed with a mixture of shock and awe by the time they were done with him, which he hoped was a good thing. One of them even commented: "That's a lot of reiryoku…"

"There are a lot of good looking girls around," Shinji carried on, oblivious to his friends' inattentiveness. Grimmjow shook his head.

Thinking that Shinji will eventually shut up once he realized no one was listening to him, Grimmjow leaned towards Neliel and asked: "You feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," she replied stiffly.

"Don't give me that "I'm fine" crap. You don't look fine at all. Don't keep it to yourself, especially if you have someone to share it with. I'm your best and closest friend, Neliel; I'm also going to be hurt if you think even I'm not worth confiding in," he commented in a soft voice.

Neliel didn't answer, but her posture relaxed slightly, so Grimmjow pressed on. "You're worried about your placement, right?"

She nodded. "Not only will I not join you guys in the advanced class, I'll have to live with the knowledge that I could've entered, but managed to screw my chances of doing so," she answered before resuming her silent brooding. She was definitely upset; even though she tried her best to hide it, Grimmjow could tell and he hated seeing her like that.

On a sudden whim, he reached over and grabbed her hand, and when she looked at him in surprise, he smiled and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Why don't we look at it this way? You know, and I know, that you're much better than you've probably been given credit for. It's their loss for not being able to see your full potential."

Neliel snorted. "Easy for you to say. You're probably in the advanced class."

"We don't know that for sure. You also don't even know for sure that you didn't make it. But even if you're in the standard class, that just makes things easier. They might as well graduate you at the top of the class immediately, because you'll definitely excel there. I know you're intelligent, Neliel, so to hell with what they say. Prove to them that you're of a much higher calibre than they think you are."

That alone wasn't enough to ensure a complete reversal in her attitude, but it was enough. She smiled lightly at him and said: "Thanks, Grimmkitty. I really appreciate it."

He was about to retort, but thought better against it. "Don't worry about it. And don't feel down; I won't allow it," Grimmjow smirked as he released her hand. As soon as he did, he wondered: _Why in the world did I take her hand?_

"Hey! Were you two even listening?" Shinji's voice suddenly cut in between them.


End file.
